An off beat look at Indonesian and South East Asian football from the terraces or the pub

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Saturday, October 05, 2013

Miljan Radovic Interview

Miljan Radovic smiles a lot. He may be thousands of miles
from home and family but he is buzzing. For many people a doughnut shop in a
Bandung mall early on a Saturday night isn’t going to get the pulses races
racing but Radovic loves it.

He’s 38 years old later this month, he has no job, yet to
look at him, to spend time with him, you would think his numbers had just come
up on the lottery.

‘I love Bandung. I just love it here,’ he said, smiling of
course.

Born in Niksic, Yugoslavia, Radovic’s footballing resume is
a microcosm of Balkan history. Most of his schooldays were spent in Yugoslavia
when it was considered the most open of Europe’s communist countries.

When he was 12 years old, in 1987, Yugoslavia won the World
Youth Cup with a team featuring future greats like Robert Prosinecki, Davor
Sukor, Zvonimar Baban and Igor Stimac. Even now, the names roll off the tongue.

In 1990 Yugoslavia reached the World Cup quarter finals only
to lose to Argentina on penalties but already the country was being torn apart
by the political rumblings that eventually led to the bloody civil war. The
federation was on the verge of break up and when they made it to the 1992
European Championships the war raging in the constituent republics meant UEFA
banned them from competing.

Football fans never got to see how great that Yugoslav
generation could have been.

Amid the chaos of the early 1990s, Radovic started his
career with his local team, Sutjeska Niksic. Famous for their youth academy,
Sutjeska alumni includes Mirko Vucinic who now plays for Juventus.

‘I played with Vucinic,’ Miljan recalls. ‘I was his
captain.’

Radovic was the type of journeyman footballer who rarely
made the headlines. In 2000 he left his home town team and moved to Vojvodina,
then Smartno 1928 before moving on to Grbalj, Mogren, Grbalj again, Lovcen
Cetinje and Petrovac.

He was treading water. Football was a job, a job he loved
for sure, but just that.

Then, in the autumn of his career, he signed for Persib
Bandung in the Indonesia Super League.

‘For me, Bandung is football. It has an amazing football
culture. To see the fans…’ he breaks off with a whistle.

Persib fans, known as Bobotoh, a Sundanese word meaning
followers, are famous in Indonesia for the passion and intensity of their
support. The club in many ways resemble Newcastle United and their supporters,
the Toon Army. They are a beacon for another state, language, culture.

Just drive round West Java, the somewhat uninspiring name
for the old Sundanese lands, and you will never be far from some Persib
graffiti. Just as people born on the banks of the Tyne support Newcastle from
birth, so Sundanese support Persib. It is a given.

But whereas Newcastle have a local rival, Sunderland, just a
couple of stops away on the train, Persib have no such rival. Other clubs have
tried to tap into the massive market that exists for football in the province,
the likes of Bandung FC, Pelita Jaya and Pelita Bandung Raya but, well, they
just are not Persib.

Radovic spent a season and a half with Persib, netting 17 goals
in that time ‘and 24 assists’.

‘You know, driving out to the stadium (in nearby Soreang)
the road was just a sea of blue. Everyone cheered us, banging on the coach.
Unbelievable,’ he remembers.

And inside the stadium? He shakes his head at the memories.

‘Everywhere I went in Bandung, people recognize me. They
want their photograph with me, they want my autograph. You know, they made me
feel like a star.’

‘It is real football. I had never seen anything like it
before. You know, I want to see Liverpool v Manchester United, Real Madrid
Barcelona but Persib games were just unbelievable,’ he said. Smiling of course.

In a nutshell, Radovic was revitalized by his time in
Bandung. He was part of a football culture he had read about and seen on TV.
Bandung, its football club and its people were proving to be an inspiration and
the attacking midfielder was responding to the cultural stimulation.

He wrote a book about his life. He started making plans for
a football school. He had an extra spring in his step.

Released after a season and a half he returned to Montenegro
and kicked his heels for a while, waiting for a club to call. One did. Pelita
Bandung Raya. He was so excited he went to the travel agent and booked the
first available flight which happened to be business class. The club paid but
Radovic was in such a rush to get back, he didn’t care.

He returned to a club very different to Persib. PBR were
struggling against relegation and the crowds they attracted wouldn’t have
filled more than a handful of the packed angkots that regularly made the
pilgrimage to Persib games.

But for Radovic, it was like nothing had changed. ‘Still
people approach me. I get my photo taken, I sign autographs. I’m never alone
for long’.

Now, with his contract ended and PBR safe in the ISL for one
more season, Radovic is pushing forward with plans for his football school but
is getting frustrated by the way things are done. Or, as is usually the case,
not done.

‘You know, I have been a footballer for 20 years. It’s a
great life. All I have to do is train, and turn up on match day. I love it. But
now?’ again, a shake of the head, this time not of wonder or awe but
frustration.

‘Getting things done here is so slow, so frustrating.’ Words
heard in many a bar from many an expat over the years!

I ask him what it is about Bandung especially that keeps him
here and has him making plans for the future here.

‘The people. They are amazing. I have never met people like
them anywhere,’ he beamed. ‘Persib is Bandung and everyone is a Bobotoh.’